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By Laura Smith - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, which would allow federal employees in same-sex partnerships to have the same employment benefits as their married co-workers, was approved Wednesday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The benefits would include: health care, retirement and disability plans, family, medical and emergency leave, group life insurance, long-term care insurance and access to worker’s comp.

Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he and Ranking Member Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the bill with the purpose of bringing a measure of equality to the federal work force.

“I believe this legislation is really on the right side of history, and it, in a sense, is another expression of a concept we believe in, which is equal pay for equal work, and in this case, equal benefits for equal work,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman noted that federal employees and their domestic partners would have to abide by existing employment related obligations, such as conflict of interest provisions, anti-nepotism rules and financial disclosure requirements.